The paradoxical nature of sexuality in anorexia nervosa

Psychosexual dysfunctioning is often put forward as an etiological factor in anorexia nervosa. In contrast, we hypothesize that anorexia nervosa patients were in general psychosexually normal before their illness, and that the problems in their sexual life arise only after the emergence of hypogonadism, as a consequence of emaciation. Our study shows that patients, before they became anorectic, were indeed rather similar to normal subjects with respect to sexual attitude. Moreover, patients reported a considerably decreased sexual interest during their anorectic period when compared with normal controls. We conclude that these results corroborate our hypotheses. In the discussion we sketch a theoretical account of the origin and course of anorexia nervosa, according to which the hormonal and associated psychosexual changes are central to its pathogenesis.